I am wondering if anybody could guess what is wrong with my car. Then I could get an estimate on how much it will cost to fix and decide if I want to keep it to haul things like recycling stuff and manure.
I have a mercury villager 1998 with 105,000 miles. It is time for a new trimming belt and a couple tires. However, yesterday when I drove it at 55 mph it rattled and vibrated the cabin shook as it I was in spacecraft breaking gravity. When I stopped, the front went clunk and the same thing when I started to move. The front driver side also smelled like burning rubber but not as strong like burning brakes. I had the shaking and smelling problem before but the mechanic did not find anything wrong.
Your wheel could be falling off!
At fifty-five mph, bad tires can cause serious vibration, which you describe. More so if the worn tires are on the front. The source of the clunk could be a bad ball joint. Or if you were turning, something as easy as a broken linkage to the sway bar would make a clunk.
The front driver side houses your serpentine belt. It might be the source of the burning rubber smell.
I would a)replace the worst pair of tires with new ones, which would go up front. b)take the car back to the mechanic and try again. If he finds nothing wrong this time, you need a new mechanic.
The front tires are new. I bought them in July. The first time the vibratrion occured was with the new tires. Then the mechanic did something at it stopped. I droved it from Il to New York and back without any problems in July.